This invention pertains to devices for filling ensilage curing means and more particularly to a device adapted to fill an impervious bag with ensilage so that such a bag may be used as a silo for the storage of silage.
The use of vertical silos for the curing of ensilage and the storing of silage for livestock feed is well known. These silos have been built of wooden staves, concrete staves, tile, cement blocks and other material for a long period of time.
More modern silos now sometimes use vitreous linings in an upright silo. Other types of silage storing devices have also recently become more popularly used. Bunker silos, for example, include those formed with earthen or concrete walls bordering a broad trench. Thus, in effect, the upright silo is laid on its side. Because silage needs to cure essentially without being exposed to air, the key to the successful bunker silo is the use of an impervious plastic cover, which might also be used as a lining.
By my device, I provide for the use of a large bag formed of the same type of impervious material as the covers. This bag can best be used stretched out on the ground. Such bags are known in the art, (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,061 to Eggemulller et al) but I provide a relatively simple and effective device for forcing the ensilage into the bag and leaving the bag in place on the ground so that the bag does not have to be moved once it is filled. I do this by providing a moving filler means which may use a single auger as is illustrated in the following figures and described in the specification.